Podcast Listen in: The Making and Breaking of the American Constitution July 21, 2026 The Making and Breaking of the American Constitution is a provocative new history of America's constitution and an urgent call to action for a nation confronted by challenges its founders could never have imagined. Read More
Essay What it means to lose a farm July 17, 2026 There are only three times when a farm receives a lot of visitors: during an open house after expanding, after the farmer gets seriously injured, and when the farm sells out and auctions its machinery. My father experienced all three. Read More
Essay Game, scam, cult: The many faces of QAnon July 17, 2026 When viewed within the corpus of 4953 similar posts that accreted over the months between October 2017 and December 2020, Drop #199 was nothing out of the ordinary. Read More
Essay How to succeed in college the old-fashioned way July 16, 2026 Around two thousand years ago, in a Greek city that had long been both politically and culturally under the sway of the Roman empire, a teenaged boy named Nicander participated in a coming-of-age ritual. Read More
Podcast Listen in: The Fall of Republics July 13, 2026 Thomas Madden explores the people, events, and factors that led to the collapse of some of the world鈥檚 most enduring republics鈥攆rom Carthage to Rome to Venice and beyond鈥攁nd examines the worrying lessons these failures hold for the United States and other democracies today. Read More
Essay A new biography of Darwin July 01, 2026 This idea for this book began with a simple question: Why do so many modern biologists have a picture of Charles Darwin hanging in their laboratories? Read More
Essay The uneaten artichoke: Notes from a French village July 01, 2026 If you鈥檙e truly devoted to observing plant patterns in nature, you learn that hunger can wait. Read More
Space travel for armchair astronauts July 01, 2026 Humanity has long contemplated the mysteries of the night sky. From ancient stargazers to modern astrophysicists, our journey to understand the cosmos has been one of awe, curiosity, and discovery. Exploring topics from black holes to the Big Bang, to the search for habitable planets, our special 鈥淪pace Exploration Day鈥� reading list illuminates humanity鈥檚 exploration of space鈥攆rom the scientific to the philosophical. Read More
Interview Christen E. Civiletto on Thundering Waters June 30, 2026 Interweaving environmental crime, history, and memoir, Thundering Waters exposes the astonishing story of exploitation and ongoing abuse lurking in the shadows of one of the world鈥檚 most treasured natural wonders. Read More
Essay Jaws (1975): A study of American masculinity June 30, 2026 When I first saw Jaws聽in the 1980s, I was probably about 9 or 10 years old, and I was plum terrified. I was terrified of the shark, obviously, but even more terrified of the water鈥攖he idea that the monster could be right underneath you or your boat, but you couldn鈥檛 access him or see him. Read More
Essay Americans and Europeans must learn from each other on free speech June 25, 2026 Americans and Europeans fundamentally misunderstand one another on free speech. Read More
Reading List Reflecting on America鈥檚 250th anniversary: American letters June 22, 2026 Over the years, American writers have profoundly influenced鈥攁nd challenged鈥攖he nation鈥檚 understanding of itself. This reading list explores literature and intellectual traditions that illuminate how American letters have reflected conflict, imagination, and change over time. Read More
Reading List Reflecting on America鈥檚 250th anniversary: An experiment in democracy June 22, 2026 American democracy has always been an experiment鈥攃entering ideas about individual freedom and collective responsibility. This reading list explores how those ideas evolved, and were interpreted by thinkers and reformers who tried to understand what democracy could mean in practice. Read More
Reading List Reflecting on America鈥檚 250th anniversary: Amendments XIII, XV, and XIX June 22, 2026 The 13th, 15th, and 19th Amendments marked sweeping efforts to redefine freedom and political participation in the wake of slavery. This reading list explores those constitutional transformations alongside the moral and social struggles that complicated the pursuit of equality in American democracy. Read More
Reading List Reflecting on America鈥檚 250th anniversary: First Peoples June 22, 2026 Long before the founding of the United States, Indigenous peoples shaped the lands and cultures of North America. This reading list centers their perspectives, examining encounter and dispossession across centuries of American history. Read More
